"The government has never been in the first category as long as I've been alive, with the obvious corollary that the latter category is not a monopoly of Republican administrations."

The entire passage, not just the part in parens was supposed to be sarcastic. I don't trust a government to 'know better' than a literate educated person. Its just not in the nature of any group not organized under Scientific Discipline to 'know better'- and scientific disciplines rarely 'know better' about topics outside the scope of their peer review.

I doubt your proposal for campaign finance reform will work. Anytime you have politicians needing money, while at the very same time giving those politicians ultimate responsibility for the establishment and oversight of the legality of those monitary sources, you are going to tend towards watered down standards that end up maximizing the money that politicians can get, while at the same time providing the maximum benefit to those who give the most money.

Basically, I think Campaign Finance Reform is perhaps an intractable problem- especially with the rise of the new Ultra Wealthy and the nascent emergence of the largest gap between the rich and the rest of us that we have perhaps ever seen in this country.

Why I say it is intractable is that no matter what, 3rd parties with lots of money can always take out any add they want- unless we abridge freedom of speech. The wealthy can always find or form some sort of 'swift boat veterans' type group that they can use as a mothpiece.

What I would like to see is give every candidate stepped funds out of the federal or state pocket. Be generous... As primaries are run, allocate larger and larger amounts to the remianing candidates. Make all allocations equal and public and subject to federal audit by a third party. Completely forbid candidates to take any funds from any other sources. Period. End of discussion. People can volunteer time, but no money or resources of any kind. Not even a ham sandwich.

If some third party runs an issue-related ad- okay, thats fine- but clearly state with LARGE BANNER that this ad was paid for with private funds and post all the sources and contributions on a public site. I expect this will end up with abuses- but such as it will be.

I don't think corporations should be able to donate at all. Public candidates are supposed to serve the people, not private interests.

DL